Automatic film developing, fixing, and drying machine



May 22, 1928.

' w. J. WILLIAMS AUTOIATIG FILI DEVELOPING, FIXIHG, DRYING IAGHINE FiiedJan. 2, 1925 2 Sheets-sheet 1 s, t a

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Patented May 22,' 1928.

UNITED .STATES warm .1.

winnaars, or woonmvmr, imwronx.'

Avremmo nur nnmome, rixme, mi nume momia.

Appunti ma nanny a, im. semi np. 810,296.

The present invention relates to an automatic ilm developing, washing,fixing 'and `drying machine.

The invention has for its main object to provide an automatic, laborsaving apparatus-for` developing, VVwashiiigJixing, rinsing and dryingsensitized short strips of Afilms as are generell utilized by amateurphotographe'rs and ot ers in photographie cameras. Another object of myinvention is to provide an improved device wherein a plurality of iilmstrips may be passing through the aforesaid process of developing,washing,"

xing and drying at the same time, thereby labor which is incurred withthis work. Y A further object in view yis to simphfy the entireconstruction into one unit wherein the different operations, likedeveloping,

Washing, fixing, rinsing and drying the film strips are carried outsuccessively without interruption and wherein the transfer of thevarious lilm's from one tank into the other takes place automaticallStill another object oflthe invention is to provide means wherelg1 thevarious film strips are accompanied uriiig the prmocess of developing,fixing and drying by enveltps or other' identification means, thus stillther reducing andsimplifying the manual.

labor.` A,

With such objects in view, and others which will morefully appear as thenature of the invention isbetteil understood, the same consists in theprinciple of and in the arrangement` of parts hereinafter described andalso pointed out in the appended claims,

it being understood that many changes may be made in the arrangement 'ofparts 1n details of ractical construction utilizing said principlle andarran ement wit-hln the scope ofthe appended c aims without departinfrom the spirit or sacrcing any of the a vantages of the invention. Itshall therefore be understood that I do not wishto limit myself to thepreferredconstruction herein described and shown 1n the accompanyingdrawings, but reserve the right 'to make such chan es as may ap rracticable or augment t e eiciency o the evi'c'e.

Referring to the accompanying drawings 'Figi 1 is a side elevation of amachine constructed according to invention;

Fig.2isaplanviewof ig.1;

section;

vtank sections as.will be' At the bottom of th tank sections are pro-.Sprockets 15 and 17 means of the worm 22,me shmg Fig. 6 is a detailview -taken'on line 6-6- of Fig. 5, showing the fihiicarrier in crossshowing one of the VFig. 7 is a detail view,

the film strips in a spring clips for holdin lstretched position withinvthe film carrier. reducing quite considerably the manual v ike numeralsarts throughout all the, the drawings.

f The numeral 1 indicates a lon Awatertight tank, made o`f wood or anyot er suitable material and divided by vertical cross partitions into aseries of four separate sections 2, 3, 4 and 5. As shown, the tank 1rests upon legs or supports 6 and is closed at the ends as indicated at7 and 8.

,In practice, the first section 2 of this watertight tank 1 contains thedeveloping solution the second section 3 rinsing water, the thirdsection4 4 the fixing solution and the last section 5 water. The shortfilm strips are, during the process of developing'and g, carriedsiiccessivel throu h all four escribe later.

designate like various views o vided short pipes, closed at each end,and designated 9 and 10. These pi es 9 and 10 have a plurality of smallho es 11. The pipes 9 are communication with an air e 12,' leading to anair compressor, not shown `in the drawings and their purpose is toagitate the developing and fixin solutions, while pipes 10 are connecteto a water main by means of-'the tubing 12 so as to renew the rinsingwater, while an over. iiow for the' At the'external sides of tank 1 arear ranged two endless roller vchainsl 13 and 14, supported by sprockets15, 16, at one side and 17, 18 at the other side of said tank.

are journaledoii` a horizontal shaft 19, and sprockets 16 and 18 n shaft20 and the latter is driven `from an electric or any suitable othermotor 21 by with a worm so v latter is provided as indicated vat 12 inFig. 2. A i

f clips 38 may hold en'velopesfor the various gear 23, and furtherthrougha second worm f, resigby gravity onl are film carriers 26,

which thus are cause to travelslowly over tank 1. Each of said filmcarriers;l as shown,

consists mainly of a slottevdgtubegdhavingfgllgwin t at one end anoutwardly-projecting shaft 28, and atthe other en d'anoutwardly-projecting shaft 2 9, by whichA shafts said carriersr aresupported on theupper section of the chains 13 and 14. v.

Within the slotted tube 27. are provided two' cylindrical members 30,31,one of which is xed and the other slidablyarranged and pressed'laterallyaway from the fixed memer by means of a coil spring 32. From the members-31, extending downwardly through the slot 33,. are vertical rods 34 andto which the film strips 36 may be attached by spring7 clips or clamps37, as illustrated in Fig. n

The shaft 29 isinserted into and-connected with the fixed member 31,while the second shaft 28 is connected to a vshorter member ai 308 xedin the tube 27 totclose. the end thereof. The slidable member `30follows easily andA freelythe pressureof coil spring 32 and retainsunder the tension of the same the film strips 36,- inserted between rods34 se and 35 in a horiaontally 'stretched position,

as clearl shown 1n Figs. 3 and 5.

The, carriers 26`have`on 'their up er edge a plurality of springclipsBSidenti ed bg numerals, corresponding `to similar. i entifying numbers ontheclips 37. ,The

films or -`otheridenticatio'n means for the.,

atter.

To provide a'means for-'timing the .develo'ping'( of Lthe sensitized intank section 2," have shown' onftop of the edge of this section'preferably' atfboth' sides .a subdivided scale. having. 2*- for,`indieatingl the 4 subdivisio-ns -2*. which "de, an Vplaced.

-ubdivi'slo'ns. subdivision re reof AchainA sp it 1s ev1dentthatja, lmrcy ,which is placed upon chains 133.1 y'14 fat'tlie numerals Y5, willtravel live before vijrreaches a'second sto 40 at`theend-o`f tanksection 2A or said end'while it travel 10 minutes, if placed 'furtherawa from! such end u 'n the` nu meralsly 10" Stops @only facilitatequick Ainsertion of carriers 26- atf a .point andare notabsolutelyes'sential. Upon, their arrivall at the end'of tank sec-e tion2, and engagingthe stop-40, the film carriers, are transferredl over thero er chains '59, -which pass over sp 60, driven by the common motor 21as showny 'carriers 26 and nemers i endless rollerfchain's. 41and 42respectively,n

driven by theysame motor21`through'ian endless, third-chain 43 as shownin Figs. 1

and 2, moving however at a much higher, predetermined speed and passingovery sprockets v44,45 and 46 which' operate the transfer mechanism: toeach shaft of said time sprockets is pivoted a lever 47, connected toan-arm 48 by means of which a bar 49, guided within a channel 50 ismoved Y vertically up and down;

Said bar 49 carries at its upper endv a balancer orswinging lever 51having hook-s like, upwardly ourydfeiids'5`3Jfifd53kandVLH a laterallyextending hook 54v which will strike during upward movementagainst'avertically arranged rod 54a and cause the balancer 51 to tiltover,whereby' the film carrier,lifted by said balancers from .the

-chains 13,- 14 will slide forward by gravity as indicatedl in Fig. 4and remain inthis position during downward motion of bar 49 and thusA beagain deposited upon roller chains 13, 14 beyond the. dividing partitionbetween tank sections 2 and 3. The film strips carried by' said carrier26 are'at the same time' submerged in the rinsing water, lillingsection3. While the balancers 51 are pivoted as indicated at 52, the hook-likeendv 53 may be independentlypivoted be tween said end 53 an pivot 52 ina'manner to permitsaid hook-like end to swing upwardlywhen lowered uponthe edge of' the tank and stri-kin there eventually upon the nextfollowing carrier 26 and thus passing the same and again assuming lanormal, horizontal position as shown in- Fig. 1 bevloo low the stretchofv chain carrying said'secf ondfilmcarrie 26, so as to grip thesamg andlift it up during the ,next following up- .ward motion ot)bar 49. P Thesamemanner of transferringthe carriers 26 iromone tank section into aniother is repeated until the'reach the end of tank 1 where a-hotairorrying chamber 55 is provided. The same is shown here heated obviousthat also any other suitable heating means may be employed instead.Under the hood. 57. of said hot airA or'drying chamber 55 the vfilmcarriers'26 will be automatically gri ped by the hooks 58 ofa pair ofendle:

'or in any :other preferred mannen-1' Said hooks 58 engage the shafts28, 29 ofxlm r, carry the latter-at aslow speed through the hot airordrying chamber 55 whereupon the 'inay be removed from the 'rollercha1ns59 y an operator or .un I

n by electr-ical resistance elements 56 but it is Y automatically upon'an inclined double nl rack as indicated at 61 and come there to a rest.

It is -obvious that the envelopes or .other identification means,accompanying the film stripsas described and held by the numbered clips38, will much facilitate the sortingv and packing of the nished ilms.

The modus operandi-of the machine is also uite clear and lobvious fromthe foregoing escription and easily understood by one versed in the art,but it-m'ay be added that the u and downward moving bar 49 makes' a sucient number of movements to take care ofthe maximum` number of filmcarriers 26 which may beinserted into the tank section 2 and .slowly'carried forward b roller chains 13 and 14 and that the Speed of chains41 and 42 has .to be properly timed to correspond with the speed ofchains 13, 14 and the distance "between the ilm carriers resting uponthe latter. l

Whlle one operat'orhmay be placing lilni strips 36 into the ifilm.carriers 26' and depositing the latter upon-.chains 13, 14 with the'said lm strips subrferged in the fle-I.

veloper contained in'ftan'l secten 2, another operator may remove thej-carriers after a the process ofdeveloping,. rinsing, fixing,

washing and dryin has been completed in succession as` descr1bedfromhooks 58 of chains 59 and place the nished ilmsinto the accompanyingenvelopes and pass the empty film carriers 26 onto the first operator.

Thus it is obvious that' with this machine considerable manual laborwill be saved as compared with the present rocess wherein many of\ thevarious .operations have to be done separately by hand. A

Many and. various lchanger-rin form, construction details, size, shapeand other minor details may be made without departin from the spirit ofthe appended claims an from `the scope of'my invention, ofA which Ihavel v lng the opposite ends ofa sensitized embodiment only.

herein described and illustrated a preferred I claim l 1. Apparatusofthe character described embodying, in combination, a plurality ofseparate containers, each adapted to contain a liquid, a carrierhavingmeans for engagunit to retain the same in submerged osition, means fOrSuCCGSSlVIy movln'g Sal Cal'rlel' through each of said containers withthe sensitized unit submerged in said liquids and means in the tanks foragitating the said liquids.

2. Apparatus of the character described embodying, in combination, aplurality of separate containers, one of which is adapted to -veontain adeveloping solution, another a fixing solution, and still another awashing liquid, a carrier having means for engaging a sensitized-unit tohold the' same in submergencein said liquids, means for successivelymoving said carrier through y each of said containers with thesensitized tainers and unsubmerged means`on said carrier identified witheach of said film engaging-devices.

4. Apparatus of the character described embodying, in combination, aseries of separate containers, each adapted to contain a liquid, afilm-carrier having a plurality of pairs of` engagin devices for holdinat their opposite en s a plurality of sensitlzed films' and retainingthe same in submergence -in the said liquid-as, means for successivelymoving Vsaid carrier through each of said containers, an identifyingsymbol on` each pair of said en aging devices, and unsubmergedmeans aoconnected with said carrier v`'having Hidentification symbolscorrespending to the identifying symbols on the engaging devices.

Signed at Woodhaven, L. I., in the county of Queens and State of NewYork, this 29th day of December, A. D. 1922.

WALTER J. WILLIAMS.

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